Two Steps Forward and One Step Back...

My previous post was about William Perry, servant then schoolmaster, son of John Perry, gentleman, living at Marylebone at the time of his marriage in 1840, then moving to Louth, Lincolnshire with his wife Mary Ann (nee Smith), before dying some time between 1847 and the 1851 census. So what of his widow Mary Ann Perry. We do know a bit more about her family, the Smiths.

Mary Ann Smith was born in 1810 or 1811 (going by the ages in successive censuses and age on her death certificate) in Hammersmith, Middlesex. Her father (as named on her marriage certificate) was Samuel Smith, truss maker.

She had a sister, Sarah Smith, who was born 1812 or 1813 in Hammersmith.

Mary Ann's marriage was witnessed by Harriet Smith, likely her other known sister Harriet Smith who was born 1822 or 1823 at Epsom in Surrey.

Mary Ann Smith was one of my great great great grandmothers. A couple of years ago I discovered that her sister Sarah Smith was also one of my great great great grandmothers.

The provenance follows.

My great great grandfather, William Henry Perry, pharmaceutical chemist, was born 15 November 1842 at Louth Lincolnshire, and was christened there on 11 December 1842. He was the son of William Perry and Mary Ann Smith. As noted, Mary Ann Smith's father was Samuel Smith, truss maker.

On 23 August 1870 William Henry Perry married my great great grandmother, Martha Harriet Loveday.

Martha Harriet Loveday was born 8 November 1846 at Surrey Street, Croydon, Surrey, and christened 16 December 1846 at St John the Baptist Church, Croydon. She was the daughter of Samuel Loveday, servant and later coffee house keeper, and his wife Sarah Smith.

Samuel Loveday and Sarah Smith had married 31 March 1842 at Lewisham Parish Church in Kent. From the marriage certificate Samuel Loveday's father was William Loveday, shoe maker. Sarah Smith's father was Samuel Smith, truss maker. The marriage was witnessed by James Loveday and Martha Loveday. They might have been brother and sister to Samuel Loveday.

When I saw the marriage certificates of Mary Ann Smith and Sarah Smith, and the presence of Samuel Smith, truss maker, on both of them, I suspected that William Henry Perry and Martha Harriet Loveday might have been cousins, both being grandchildren of Samuel Smith, truss maker and his wife. I could not be certain, as Smith is not an uncommon name, and I knew of two fairly contemporary Samuel Smiths who were truss makers.

For Martha's family, I knew that Samuel and Sarah Loveday (Sarah is shown at left) had at least six children born at Croydon, Surrey:

Sarah Elizabeth Loveday (1843-1847);
Benjamin James Loveday (1845-1891);
Martha Harriet Loveday (1846-1919);
Samuel Henry Loveday (1848-1849);
Samuel George Loveday (b. 1852);
Henry Loveday (b. 1857).


The confirmation that William and Martha were cousins came with the 1861 census. At 21 Market Place, Louth, Lincolnshire was listed the household of Mary Ann Perry, aged 50, widow, "Dealer in Glass China and Other Miscellaneous".

Also there was her sister Harriet Smith, aged 38, unmarried, School Mistress.

Then were listed Mary Ann's children: Wm Henry, 18, Apprentice (Chemist); Mary Ann, 16, Pupil Teacher; Emily, 14, "No Occupation"; and George Fred, 13, Errand Boy.

The next listings for Mary Ann Perry's household, were three Loveday males all described as "Nephew" and all born at Croydon, Surrey: Benjamin J., 16, occupation given as "Royal Navy"; Samuel G., 9, Scholar; and Henry, aged 3, with occupation understandably left blank.

These of course matched Martha Loveday's brothers. Martha herself, aged 14, was in the household of her parents at 21 Surrey Street in Croydon, the only child in the listing.

Her father's information was that he was aged 40, and a "Keeper of Coffee Dining Room", being born in Devonshire, at Uffculum (Uffcombe). His wife Sarah was aged 49.

So, from this I had narrowed the number of ancestors in that line, with two great great great grandmothers being sisters, so I only had two trace one family. However, that family was surnamed Smith...as noted above, not the most uncommon name!

William Perry (died between 1847 and 1851) - A Brick Wall

Well, having outlined some progresses made in my family tree research and blogging about the bits and pieces I have found, time for the dreaded genealogical "brick walls", where you get to a certain point and cannot go further. I have a few of those.

One of them is the family of a great great great grandfather, William Perry.

Thus far I have learned that William Perry was living in St Marylebone in London and was a servant and a bachelor when he married Mary Ann Smith, spinster, on 23 December 1840. He was a bachelor at the time of marriage.

Of his family up to the point of marriage I know that his father was John Perry, who was a "Gentleman" (a rank or profession that seems to cover a multitude of possibilities). One of the witnesses to his marriage was a "Thomas Perry", who may have been a brother, or uncle, or cousin.

By 1842 William and Mary Ann Perry had moved to Louth in Lincolnshire where William became a schoolmaster and Mary Ann a schoolmistress. Their four children were born at Louth: William Henry (1842-1908); Mary Ann (b. 1844); Emily (1846-1908); and George Frederick (1847-1881).

William Perry died by the time of the 1851 census when his wife Mary Ann was listed as a widow. He does not seem to have died in the Louth district, and there were several men named William Perry who died between 1847 and 1851.

That he died before the 1851 census means that his birthplace was not recorded in a census. I cannot locate a William and Mary Perry in the 1841 census that would seem to fit this couple, nor do I know exactly when they made the move to Louth, nor where they lived immediately after marriage (i.e. the 1841 census year). Not sure where to go from there. As he was a schoolmaster, perhaps there might be records for the school, although I do not know if this was at Louth. As I said, a brick wall.

I do know slightly more about his wife's Smith family, which given the pervasiveness of Smiths in England I think is quite something, although the brick wall soon looms for that family too. It also brought up an incidence of cousinal intermarriage.

Thomas Breedon Woodfield (born 1801; died 1845)

A brief post, on what happens when you decide to search for a name just to see what you find. Quite a wee while after I discovered the http://www.a2a.org.uk/ site (now at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a). I thought one particular day I'd put in the name of an ancestor with a fairly unique name to see what might happen. The ancestor I chose was a great great great grandfather, Thomas Breedon Woodfield (1801-1845), who married Mary Marshall at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, 28 January 1823 (IGI). They were the parents of several children, their son John Thomas Woodfield (1835-1908), my great great grandfather, migrating to New Zealand with his wife Jemima (nee Iliffe) on the Clontarf, arriving in March 1860.



So, I put in the name Thomas Breedon Woodfield into the a2a search box, expecting little or nothing to come of it. All I really knew of his background to that point, was that his parents were John and Sarah Woodfield.



The result of putting his name into the search box was a draft release of land from Thomas and his wife Mary. The major find, genealogically, was that the release described how Thomas had come by the property; the land had been purchased in 1785 by Shadrach Taylor, miller, of Avon Dassett, Warwickshire, who was the grandfather of Thomas Breedon Woodfield.



That gave me the maiden name of Sarah Woodfield (Thomas' mother). Going again to IGI, I located a marriage date for John Woodfield and Sarah Taylor, 14 April 1800, Warmington, Warwickshire.



I then wondered about the name of the grandfather, Shadrach Taylor. It seemed unusual enough that putting that into a2a might be worth it, especially as I seemed to have the location of Avon Dassett in Warwickshire to narrow results down. So I put that in.

Up came a will for a John Haines, yeoman, of Avon Dassett, Warwickshire, for 1st May 1776.
The will named his heirs:

his daughter Martha, wife of John Townshend;
grandson William Townshend (evidently son of Martha and John);
grandson Joseph Haines, who was son of John Haines' son, another Joseph Haines, who was himself deceased;
son John Haines;
daughter Elizabeth Bishop, wife of Austin Bishop of Weston Turvill, Buckinghamshire;
daughter Ann Paxford, wife of William Paxford, of Finmore, Oxfordshire;
Children of Ann Paxford by her first husband (all unnamed);
daughter Sarah Denston, wife of the Rev. John Denston;
daughter Mary Haines of Avon Dassett;
daughter Joanna Collins of Avon Dassett;
and daughter "Esther Taylor, wife of Shadrach Taylor of Avon Dassett".

The executor of the will of John Haines were his nephews John Hitchcock, of Ratley, yeoman, "and kinsman John Haines junior of Avon Dassett". This last named John Haines junior causes some considerable confusion when one tries to sort out one John Haines from another, as the John Haines junior seems to be different from John Haines the son of John Haines, yeoman of Avon Dassett.

Anyway, I presume the Shadrach Taylor, miller, of Avon Dassett, purchasing land in 1785 is the same as the one named in the 1776 will.

IGI has a marriage record for Shadrach Tayler and Esther Haines as marrying at Avon Dassett, 23 June 1774.

There was a christening record for a Sarah Taylor as taking place in August 1774 at Avon Dassett with parents Shadrach Taylor and Esther, so that seems to show a tie in with Sarah (Taylor) Woodfield being the daughter of this Shadrach and Esther Taylor.

Putting the name John Haines into a2a also seemed to bring up his parents. There was a probate for the will of a Joseph Hains or Haines of Avon Dassett, yeoman, for 22 August 1739. This named the legatees as his wife Martha, daughter Martha and son-in-law William Hitchcock, son John Haines, executor, and grandson Joseph Haines.

Remember that the John Haines of 1776 had a nephew John Hitchcock of Ratley, and here we have a John Haines with sister and brother-in-law being Martha and William Hitchcock (i.e. their son would be his nephew), as well as the younger Joseph Haines, who was deceased by 1776.

This corroborates IGI:

John Hains, christened 27 December 1698 at Avon Dassett, parents Joseph and Martha;
Martha Hains, christened 1 December 1700 at Avon Dassett, parents Joseph and Martha;
Martha Hains marriage to William Hitchcock, Avon Dassett, 16 May 1723.

Other material from IGI that possibly (or probably?) relates to this family:

Martha Haines marriage to John Townshend, 19 February 1750, Bloxham, Oxfordshire (no day or month)
Elizabeth Haines marriage to Augustine Bishop, 8 February 1755, Avon Dassett
Sarah Haines marriage to John Denston, 1760, Avon Dassett (no day or month)
Joanna Haines marriage to John Collins, 24 Februaruy 1756, Avon Dassett.